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Summary

A group of South Park neighbors are about to make a significant improvement in water quality and community health through a rain garden project supported by King County’s Green Grants Program.

Story

A group of South Park neighbors are about to make a significant improvement in water quality and community health through a rain garden project supported by King County’s Green Grants Program.

Each year, King County’s Wastewater Treatment Division awards Green Grants funding to small-scale environmental projects that help control combined sewer overflows and support cleanup goals for the Lower Duwamish.

The South Park Area Redevelopment Committee, which earned a $25,000 Green Grant, is behind the effort to complete work on the South Park GreenStreets Roadside rain gardens project.

Community members are invited to take part in a volunteer planting party on Saturday, March 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the intersection of 12th Avenue South and South Southern Street, Seattle, 98108.

Stormwater runoff from this area of unincorporated King County currently flows directly to the river, which was listed as a federal Superfund site in 2001. For more than 12 years, King County has been working with Boeing, Port of Seattle and City of Seattle to coordinate efforts around the cleanup of the Lower Duwamish.

The South Park rain garden project supports King County’s efforts to enhance the environment while keeping harmful chemicals and pollutants from reaching the river and potentially re-contaminating the waterway once cleanup is completed.

The rain gardens will also beautify the street, increase bird and butterfly habitat, calm traffic, and create places for the family-oriented neighborhood to gather and visit.

In addition to Green Grant funding from King County Wastewater Treatment Division, funding will also come from the McNeill family Plumb Level and Square Fund. Project partners include Urban Systems Design, LDP Engineering, Green Tech Excavation, Go Natives Nursery, and Professor Brian Gerich and the University of Washington Masters of Landscape Architecture Design Lab.